for Jess, who might just be the coolest visitor

A few weeks ago Jess came to visit from London. We loved it, the kids loved it, the cats loved it. It was a wonderful afternoon of chatting, cooking, eating and playing. Some drinking. It is both a marvel and a given that people born across oceans, raised in utterly incomparable circumstances and living on different continents can have similar experiences, almost shared memories, same palates. Thoroughly heartening. Jess was greeted by the waterlily, but the passion vine and stephanotis may have missed her just by a day.

The cherry tree was generous this year and we all had tart sweeties to our hearts' content. Even Tom Truelove stopped by and told a story about his father working on the railroad 50 years ago, before airconditioning; people riding with open windows, throwing pits and seeds out along the tracks; he would dig up young saplings coming up along the track and re-plant them in the garden; his mom used to make cherry pie, didn't even bother with sugar; what do you think about them apples (they had those too). We stopped at Cream King for icecream on the way home, Jess made a lovely salad, and we all had a nice dinner outside. Somehow there is no evidence of Jess actually taking part, but she was here, indeed. A few days later we went to get icecream with the kids and took pictures... simply because it is such a sight. We'll hope to see you soon, Jess, on one of these continents.

mr lincoln and other roses

this heavenly flower one can almost smell just looking at a picture. it is perfect in every way, so much so that even common garden pests do not dare touch the flower (they'll eat everything else, though).
here is another beauty, a new addition this year. it is a marvel so many colors can be contained in one flower, changing and deepening as the petals open.

constant lily

here is this same lily, possibly 4-5 years later. this winter i forgot to transfer it to the fish pond, which is deeper and water there never freezes completely. it did not seem to make a difference. this is the first smile it has given this season. i'll be counting.

business and life

i have long found it impossible to separate business and personal in my life. things, thoughts, people become permanent actors on this stage. as things get made: bags, hats, landscape designs, floral arrangements, dry floral bouquets, i send them off to their new homes with a certain sadness, there is a part of me that wants to keep in touch... not only with that, which my time, love, creativity was put into, but also with that new person who is taking it home. genuine connections are not easily made, i find, and it takes immediate recognition, effort and depth to bring them out in our daily lives, personal or business.

as always, t.Ira was my constant teacher in practicing simplicity, openness and humble concern. when it comes to her yarns especially, i want to send them to a lovely home (when i knit, i think about what she would have made with it, where it would have gone). here is a hat for her great grandson Carl, who was just born to Anton and Fleur. i thought it would be lovely for him to have something she might have made. she stopped knitting in her last years, but she kept this yarn as she kept everything else for a reason - it might be just the right thing one day. and that is what i am working on. i would like to prove her right to the last little strand.